


The Great Coffee Vs Tea Debate

by roonilbwazlib



Series: Astoria/Drastoria Drabbles [2]
Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tumblr Prompts, astoria drabbles, coffee shop AU, drastoria drabbles, instagram prompts, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28264089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roonilbwazlib/pseuds/roonilbwazlib
Summary: The mini coffee shop au I've somehow never got around to writing before!
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy
Series: Astoria/Drastoria Drabbles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070555
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	The Great Coffee Vs Tea Debate

Draco fiddled with his name badge as he glanced between the door of Cursed Coffee and the giant analogue clock on the wall opposite. He definitely wasn’t waiting for anyone in particular to walk in. Nope. That would be dangerously close to stalker territory, knowing the exact time when certain patrons visited.

(Well. One certain patron. And was it really so bad? Surely, if he wanted to win Coffee Shop of the Year again, he should know when his regulars were expected? Predicting people’s behaviour was good customer service after all.)

He liked that it was always quiet at this time of day. The morning rush had been and gone and it wasn’t quite lunchtime yet, meaning that when she came, Draco wasn’t rushed off his feet or sweating or too stressed to make polite conversation. He didn’t know who she was - hadn’t quite worked out how to ask for her name yet, this wasn’t a Starbucks and they didn’t do the whole personalised cup thing at CC - but he was working up the courage to do it.

The first time he saw her, he’d cursed every book and every rom com and every elderly family member for being right. It did feel as though he’d been winded, and he’d never blushed as much in his life. He could barely get the words out to ask her what she wanted, and luckily she’d chosen a simple mint tea which didn’t require any work on his behalf. He’d been worried that he’d get her order wrong and make a complete fool of himself, given that his head felt like it had suddenly been filled with cotton wool.

Since then, she’d been in every single weekday at around the same time, always ordering a herbal tea. Most often it was peppermint, but Draco had also made her the lemon & ginger, the camomile, the hibiscus and the raspberry. He’d started checking their stock levels of tea more closely than he ever had before, because Cursed Coffee was by nature a coffee shop, and pretty much nobody ever ordered anything else. Except her.

Thankfully, he’d gathered his senses around her by now, at least enough to make small talk for the three minutes it took for her tea to brew and her payment to process. He’d even made her laugh last week, and Draco knew he had it bad when the sound of her snorting literally made his knees buckle. For such a beautiful, refined looking person, she had the most hilariously infectious guffaw, and Draco had sworn to himself there and then that he wanted to make her laugh every single day for the rest of his life if he could.

Now, as the clock hand ticked closer and closer to 11.30, Draco started to worry. No, not worry. Wonder. Everything was fine. Just because she wasn’t here didn’t mean anything bad had happened. She could be anywhere, doing anything. She could be studying, or at work. She could have gone on holiday. She could have found another cafe, one that specialised in tea. She could have figured out that Draco was trying (extremely awfully) to flirt, and gotten so disgusted at the thought that she’d never darken his door again -

She was there. Pushing open the glass partition, her hair looking extra windswept, a scarf draped haphazardly around her neck and flapping around her left arm. She was carrying at least three more bags than it looked like she could manage, and Draco fought down the urge to run over and take some off her. That wasn’t his job. He was a barista, not her boyfriend.

Still, he couldn’t help it when a grin climbed onto his face as she made her way towards the counter. He laid his hands down in front of him and prayed they wouldn’t shake and give away how nervous she made him.

“Morning, again,” he said, sending a silent thank you to whatever gods made his voice sound normal. “What will it be today?”

“I think I’m in the mood for a mint,” she decided, and Draco’s heart leapt at the huge smile she threw him. “No surprise there I’m afraid, sorry I’m such a boring customer.”

Boring? Her? Literally nothing could be further from the truth, and Draco had to make a real effort not to blurt this out loud.

“No no, a classic choice,” he answered easily, turning around to take a mint tea bag out of the jar behind him. “It’s one of our most popular flavours.”

“You mean because I’m the only one who buys tea, and that’s the one I choose most often?” she replied, a cheeky glint in her eyes that made Draco’s stomach do acrobatics when he turned back and caught it.

“N-no,” he stuttered, “Lots of people like it, I-”

“I’m teasing,” she laughed, “I know it’s weird, ordering a teabag and some hot water in the most popular coffee shop in town.”

“The most award-winning coffee shop,” Draco said without thinking as he pulled the hot water lever, blushing as she laughed again.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah,” he said, pointing over at the wall where numerous certificates were hanging in artfully mismatched frames. “Best coffee in Wiltshire, four years running.”

“Well, congratulations,” she said, smiling as she looked back at him. “Though I’m not surprised, given who makes it.”

Draco’s brain short-circuited as he attempted to process what she’d just said. Was she… flirting? With him? Was this really happening?

He was pulled suddenly back to his senses by a burning sensation crawling over his fingers and he jumped back, swearing as the cup overfilled and dripped scalding water down his wrist.

“Shit! Are you OK?” she said, all trace of laughter gone.

Draco hurried to reassure her as he dived across to the sink to run his hand under cold water.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s not a bad burn - just me being clumsy, I’m so sorry, I’ll get you another tea -”

“Don’t worry about the tea,” she said, clearly relieved that Draco seemed to be OK. “It was my fault, distracting you.”

Draco glanced at her and saw the workings of a soft smile playing around her lips. He smiled too, though he feared it looked more like a grimace. His hand really did hurt, but he was doing his best not to let on how much.

“Don’t be silly,” he said, wanting to try and get the conversation back on track. “I should know better, I use that tap all the time.”

“Yes, for me,” she said, eyes sparkling. “Don’t you ever wonder why I always order tea?”

“You… like it?” Draco replied nonplussed, as he turned off the cold tap and dried his slightly pink hands with a washcloth.

“Yes, but I could order it anywhere. Do you want to know why I come here in particular?”

Draco turned to grab another teabag, so he could answer without her seeing the hope in his face.

“Why?”

“Well, there’s this rather handsome barista that flirts quite badly with me… I think he means well, but I keep coming back in the hope he’ll improve his technique,” she teased, bursting out laughing as Draco dropped the second teabag on the floor and swore under his breath. Again.

He turned back to her, knowing his face was glowing as red as a beacon.

“You - I - you -”

“Let me do this bit, shall we?” she said gently, cutting him off.

“So. Draco. Would you like to get a drink with me sometime? Somewhere not here. When you’re not working, or at risk of permanent injury?”

“I - you - yes. Yes, I would like that very much,” Draco managed to get out, feeling his heart race under his black Cursed Coffee shirt.

“It’s a date,” she smiled, tilting her head to one side. “And I’m Astoria, by the way. I know you’ve been trying to ask.”

Draco spluttered. This wasn’t going the way he’d fantasized at all. He knew he should be embarrassed at his obvious failed attempts at getting them to this point, but right now, with a real date on the table, he couldn’t quite bring himself to care how it had got there. He was actually even more attracted to her than before, for taking the lead and grabbing the opportunity. It took guts to put yourself out there, and Draco couldn’t believe she’d risked it for him - especially after seeing him make such a fool of himself.

But she had. She was called Astoria, and he was going on a date with her.

Draco tried to gather some semblance of self-control as he reached out for a third teabag and finally made her the drink she’d come in to order.

“I’m guessing you don’t want to go for coffee?” he offered, gesturing around him. “We’ve kind of skipped that step, haven’t we? How about I take you out for lunch at the weekend? I know a great place on the other side of town.”

“Much smoother,” Astoria laughed as he rang up her tea. “And besides, I hate coffee. It’s disgusting.”

“Oi!” Draco replied in mock outrage, pretending to frown as Astoria swiped her card and gathered her bags. “You can’t say that when you haven’t tried my coffee. Maybe we should have that date here after all.”

“How about we compromise, and I’ll meet you here on Saturday? You can make us your best coffee for the road as we walk to the restaurant,” Astoria offered, cheeky smile firmly back in place. “Though I’m making no promises to drink whatever poison you concoct.”

“Deal,” Draco replied, thinking it was high time he teased her back. He waited until she’d got halfway across the shop before he called out.

“I’m making no promises to restock the tea jars!”

**Author's Note:**

> this was requested by anon on tumblr :)


End file.
